Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov (1848-1926) is the
Russian painter, master of historical and mythological genres, representative
of Russian modernist style.
Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov was a painter whose
works reveal an important facet of Russia's art during the period of Russian
Revival. The son of a country priest, he attended a seminary before beginning
his artistic education at the Petersburg Academy (where he studied with I.N.
Kramskoi) and later, at the Academy of Arts. Although initially (as a member of
the "Wanderers", a progressive art movement) Vasnetsov created many
genre scenes, his style changed as the tide of public support turned against
such prosaic, "social" art. By 1880 he was busy painting historical
and legendary scenes taken from Russia's colorful past, and it is in this role
that he (overtly) embodies so much of what the Russian revival was all about.
Although by now there are some who doubt the enduring quality of his work,
during Vasnetsov's lifetime he enjoyed at least a moderate level of popularity
and appreciation and fulfilled various commissions for both museums and
churches.
Rosa Newmarch once wrote that Vasnetsov's work
exhibits a "union" of iconographical values and modern technique;
such an opinion is best upheld by examining his work in the Cathedral of St.
Vladimir, which he completed at the end of the 19th century. His The Mother of
God with the Infant Christ, for example, adapts the iconographic tradition to a
more "realistic", lively approach.
In addition, Vasnetsov was probably the first
painter (as opposed to an artisan) to create theater backdrops; he began
working in this capacity during the 1880s and 1890s. These efforts were also an
expression of the Russian Revival, for out of his work and that of his
followers sprang the idea of "realistic theatrical decor", which
contributed much to the development of the Russian theater and ultimately was
quite influential in Western Europe. Vasnetsov even dabbled in architecture;
both a small church in Abramtsevo and the facade of the Tretyakov Gallery (in
Moscow) were based on his drawings.
Despite the multi-faceted nature of his work,
Vasnetsov is best known for his work in historical and legendary painting. As
Newmarch states, "the dominant note of Vasnetsov's art is his intense and
inviolate nationality"; indeed, during such a period of nationalist
revival it would be difficult to ignore, and unjust to denounce an artist so
talented and committed to his work. A scrupulous researcher (perhaps influenced
by his brother, a painter and medieval archeologist Appolinariy Vasnetsov),
Viktor Vasnetsov worked hard to add a certain poetry and carefully designed
atmosphere to historical accuracy. Even the landscape backgrounds of
Vasnetsov's historical paintings were influential on their own, and created a
profound impact on the development of Russian landscape painting. Ultimately
this influence, and that of all his work, may have been the result of his
skillful union of "mysticism and realism" which so characteristically
reflected the epic quality of Russia's early history.
The main advantage of decorative works of Vasnetsov
is their colourful effect, affecting in only Russian combinations and shades of
juicy, full and quiet colours.
Vasnetsov traveled a lot. In 1876 Repin invited Vasnetsov to join the Peredvizhniki colony in Paris. While living in France, Viktor studied classical and contemporary paintings, academist and Impressionist alike. At that period, he painted Acrobats (1877), produced prints, and exhibited some of his works at the Salon. It was in Paris that he became fascinated with fairy-tale subjects, starting to work on Ivan Tsarevich Riding a Grey Wolf and The Firebird. Vasnetsov was a model for Sadko in Repin's celebrated painting Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom. In 1877 he returned to Moscow.
ReplyDeleteIn the late 1870s Vasnetsov concentrated on illustrating Russian fairy tales and bylinas, executing some of his best known pieces: Knight at the Crossroads (1878), Prince Igor's Battlefield (1878), Three tsarevnas of the Underground Kingdom (1879–1881), The Magic Carpet (1880), and Alionushka (1881).
For me, Victor Vasnetsov is a Russian artist who specialized in mythological and historical subjects. My favorite pictures are "Ivan Tsarevich and the Grey Wolf", "Snow Maiden", "Baba Yaga", "Three Queens of the Underground Kingdom ", "Flying Carpet", "Frog Tsarevna" and "Alyonushka". Looking at them you can became a part of Russian fairy-tale!
ReplyDeleteA very informative post! If only we knew better our own Russian artists... I hope our visit to the Tretyakov Gallery has contributed to our interest in them!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'd like to add some more information: Vasnetsov, as it has already been said by the girls, was not only a celebrated painter, but also an architect. He produced a number of architectural designs, including those for his own house in Moscow (1894), for a pavilion at the World Fair in Paris (1898), and for E. Tsvetkov’s house on the Moskva River (1901-03), as well as designs for decoration of the Great Kremlin Palace (1898), the Faceted Chamber (1901-03), and other buildings in the Kremlin. Yet the most significant and time-consuming work of this type was the decoration of the Cathedral of St. Vladimir in Kiev, which Vasnetsov began in the autumn of 1885. Work on the decoration of the cathedral took over 10 years, during which Vasnetsov executed nearly 400 sketches and studies. The murals he painted with his assistants covered almost two thousand square meters. Fulfilling this assignment Vasnetsov relied on his favorite range of motifs and characters, painting the walls with the images of princes Vladimir, Alexander Nevsky, Andrey Bogoliubsky, Princess Olga, the chronicler Nestor, and other outstanding figures from Russian history.